PropertyMarch expands into Europe

PropertyMatch, the secondary trading portal for unlisted real estate funds, has expanded into Europe this year as it seeks to enhance the marketplace for trading secondary units in unlisted real estate funds. PropertyMatch is a joint venture between CB Richard Ellis and GFI Group.

The platform has already facilitated its first two trades in continental Europe for the UBS Euro Core Fund and the Aberdeen Pan-Nordic Fund. Both trades were in the region of EUR 3 mln.

PropertyMatch has been active in the UK since 2009 and claims to bring increased transparency and liquidity to the UK's secondary market, by supplying a reliable platform where investors can trade secondary units with transparent pricing.

Since inception PropertyMatch has facilitated more than £400 mln (EUR 472 mln) worth of trades in the UK. 'In one sense the need for PropertyMatch in Europe is more urgent than the UK, where there has always been, to an extent, a secondary market where units in unlisted property vehicles could transact,' said Paul Robinson, executive director of Real Estate Finance at CBRE.

Michael Levi, head of Indirect Property at GFI Group, added: 'PropertyMatch intermediated its first European trade in December 2010 and subsequently assisted the trade of a second European fund in the first month of 2011and these early successes are an indication of the unique ability of the platform to open up a market.'